George Washington's 1789 ThksGivg Speech (54 views) Subscribe   
  From:  David (DavidABrown)    11/19/2001 9:54 am  
To:  ALL   (1 of 7)  
 
  269.1  
 
George Washingtons Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3rd day of October, A.D. 1789

You Go George!!



David A. Brown
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    11/19/2001 9:57 am  
To:  ALL   (2 of 7)  
 
  269.2 in reply to 269.1  
 
Source: http://www.bible.com 

The Thanksgiving Holiday

By Betty Miller

Christians look forward to the time of the year when we celebrate two important holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. These holidays have their beginnings and roots in Christian celebrations. The word holiday actually means "holy day"; hence these events should be remembered and celebrated in a holy manner. We have strayed from that purpose over the years as we have embraced many unholy practices and worldly customs and added them to our "holy days."

COMPROMISING AS CHRISTIANS 

Thanksgiving is one of our main national holidays here in the U.S.A. A good question to ask is "Are we as Christians celebrating it the way the Lord would have us celebrate, or have we compromised with the world?" Have we lost the emphasis on thanksgiving and prayer and shifted it to a gluttonous feast of food, drink and games like those in the world have done? More and more the media is referring to this holiday as "turkey day" instead of Thanksgiving Day. They also eliminate the object of who we are to offer our thanks. We are just to be "thankful" we are told. Who should our thanks be directed to? The object of our thanks for our many blessings, should be directed to the Lord God. It should not just be a general "thanks."

The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated less than a year after the Christian Plymouth colonists had settled in the new land of America. The first Thanksgiving Day, set aside for the special purpose of prayer as well as celebration, was decreed by Governor William Bradford in July 30, 1623. There were harvest festivals, or days of thanking God for plentiful crops. During the Revolutionary War, eight special days of thanks were observed for victories and for being saved from dangers. On November 26, 1789, President George Washington issued a general proclamation for a day of thanks. Our national day of thanksgiving was proclaimed by President Lincoln in 1863 with these words, "a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father." 

Today we still celebrate this national and legal holiday, but are we celebrating in the right manner as Christians? Are we forgetting the main purpose of this day is prayer and thanksgiving as we feast and fellowship? The Lord is not opposed to our feasting and our gathering of friends and family to dine, but if our only prayer is to ask God to bless our food are we not forgetting the real meaning of this day? God delights in blessing us as His children. However, do we, as His children delight in blessing Him with our prayers and thanks? Do our celebrations revolve more around the meal and the football game that follows, than around the discussion of the things we should be thankful for? Many are worshipping the idol of ball games on holidays instead of focusing on the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Let us ask God to forgive us and truly celebrate this day in real thanksgiving and prayer.

Psalm 75:1, "Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare."

Psalm 107:1, "O Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever."

This article was taken from the Overcoming Life Digest (Nov./Dec. 1997 Issue)



David A. Brown
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    11/19/2001 10:01 am  
To:  ALL   (3 of 7)  
 
  269.3 in reply to 269.1  
 
Source: www.cwfa.org  

From Gov. William Bradfords Of Plymouth Plantation on the first arrival of the Pilgrims:

"But here I cannot but make a pause and stand half amazed at this poor peoples present condition; and so I think will the reader, too, when he considers it well. Having thus passed the vast ocean, and that sea of troubles before while they were making their preparations, they now had no friends to welcome them, nor inns to entertain and refresh their weatherbeaten bodies, nor houses, much less towns, to repair to.

As for the season, it was winter, and those who have experienced the winters of the country know them to be sharp and severe, and subject to fierce storms, Besides, what could they see but a desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men; and what multitude there might be of them they knew not! Neither could they, as it were, go up to the top of Pisgah, to view from this wilderness a more goodly country to feed their hopes; for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to the Heavens!) they could gain little solace from any outward objects. Summer being done, all things turned upon them a weather-beaten face; and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, presented a wild and savage view.

If they looked behind them, there was a mighty ocean which they had passed and was now a gulf separating them from all civilized parts of the world.

What, then, could now sustain them but the spirit of God and His grace? Ought not the children of their fathers rightly to say: Our fathers were Englishmen who came over the great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them that have been redeemed of the Lord, show how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered forth into the desert-wilderness, out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His lovingkindness, and His wonderful works before the sons of men.




David A. Brown
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    11/24/2002 9:30 pm  
To:  ALL   (4 of 7)  
 
  269.4 in reply to 269.3  
 
*Note in 1863 America was in the very midst of the American Civil War which started in 1861 and lasted until 1865.

Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord (Psalm 33:12).

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org




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Edited 11/25/2002 12:38:18 AM ET by David (DAVIDABROWN) 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    9/13/2003 12:06 pm  
To:  ALL   (5 of 7)  
 
  269.5 in reply to 269.4  
 
General Robert E. Lee, 1863

Soldiers! Let us humble ourselves before the Lord, our God, asking 

through Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, beseeching the aid of the God 

of our forefathers in the defense of our homes and our liberties, thanking 

Him for His past blessings, and imploring their continuance upon our cause 

and our people."

"Knowing that intercessory prayer is our mightiest weapon and the supreme 

call for all Christians today. I pleadingly urge our people everywhere to 

pray. Believing that prayer is the greatest contribution that our people 

can make in this critical hour, I humbly urge that we take time to pray - to 

really pray."

"Let there be prayer at sunup, at noonday, at sundown, at midnight - all 

through the day. Let us pray for our children, our youth, our aged, our 

pastors, our homes. Let us pray for the Churches."

"Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word 'concern' out of 

our Christian vocabulary. Let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for 

those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces 

everywhere, for our national leaders. Let prayer be our passion. Let 

prayer be our practice."

General Robert E. Lee, 1863



David A. Brown
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www.BasicChristian.org

 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    9/13/2003 12:09 pm  
To:  ALL   (6 of 7)  
 
  269.6 in reply to 269.4  
 
John Adams, July 3, 1776

"It may be the will of Heaven that America shall suffer calamities still 

more wasting and distresses yet more dreadful. If this is to be the case, 

it will have this good effect, at least: it will inspire us with many 

virtues, which we have not, and correct many errors, follies, and vices, 

which threaten to disturb, dishonor, and destroy us. The furnace of 

affliction produces refinement, in states as well as individuals. And the 

new governments we are assuming, in every part, will require a purification 

from our vices, and an augmentation of our virtues or there will be no 

blessings.... But I must submit all my hopes and fears to an overruling 

Providence; in which unfashionable as the faith may be, I firmly believe."

John Adams, July 3, 1776

-------------

How true are these words today, are they not? We plead the Precious Blood 

of Jesus over every state in our Nation and on every soul in each state."




David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org

 
 
